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Ira D. Orton
IRA D. ORTON is a prominent member of the Nome bar. He is a successful lawyer, a man of ability and recognized force of character, a hard worker and a scrupulously honest man. Possessing these qualities of character it is not surprising that he is one of the very successful lawyers of Nome.
He was born in Princeton, Missouri, March 11, 1871. He was graduated by the Princeton High School and the State University of Iowa. From the State
University he received the degrees of A. B. and LL. D. Mr. Orton's father is H. G. Orton, a well known attorney of Northern Missouri, and a descendant of an English colonist who came to America in 1640. Mr. H. G. Orton was a Union soldier in the Civil War, and was so severely wounded at the battle of Cross Lanes that he has been crippled ever since.
After Ira D. Orton received his law degree in 1892. he went to San Francisco and was associated with the law firm of Reddy, Campbell &
Metson. He came to Nome in 1900 as an associate of Mr. William H. Metson.
Establishing an office in Nome he has by diligence, faithfulness to clients and
inherent ability placed himself among the leaders of the Nome bar. He is
attorney for some of the largest corporations in the Nome country, notably the Miocene Ditch Company, the Pioneer
Mining Company, Council City & Solomon River Railroad Company, Topkuk Ditch
Company, Northern Mining and Trading Company, Nome-Arctic Railway Company, Alaska Mercantile Company, Alaska Telephone and Telegraph Company, and is also
a director of and attorney for the Miners and Merchants Bank, the Electric Light and
Power Company and the Moonlight Springs Water Company.
Mr. Orton was married in 1897; his wife was Claudia M. Ewing, daughter of a prominent lawyer of Iowa, and a member of an old family of the United States. The
issue of this marriage is one child, a daughter, Helen, aged seven years. Mrs. Orton
died in 1899. June 14, 1903, Mr. Orton contracted a second marriage with Miss
Viola M. Codding, of Nome.
Mr. Orton, firmly believing in the permanency and future of Nome, has built a
pretty home for himself and family.
Source: Nome and Seward Peninsula by
R. S. Harrison. Seattle: The Metropolitan Press, 1905.
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